By Dan Adkins

Georgetown News-Graphic

About nine hours after breaking ground for Great Crossing High School, the Scott County Board of Education approved the way to pay for it.

The board voted 4-1 Thursday night to levy a 56.4 cents per $100 assessed property value tax rate, a marked increase over last year’s 49-cent rate. Only board Vice Chair Stephanie Watson Powers voted no.

That vote came only minutes after the board approved issuing bonds to cover $51.06 million of GCHS’s $59.13 million price tag.

The mood in the board room seemed almost giddy as Schools Superintendent Dr. Kevin Hub and board members Powers, Chair Kevin Kidwell, Jo Anna Fryman, Susan Duncan and Diana Brooker basked in their achievement.

“I wish to say ‘thank you’ to the fi ve of you,” Fryman said to Hub and her fellow board members, noting her status as the board’s longest-serving member, elected in 2012.

“We have gotten more done [that’s] impactful to this com-munity [since January], and I ap-preciate every one of you for that,” Fryman said.

She cited Thursday’s ground-breaking and Hub’s leadership over the last year in building sup-port for a tax increase in a com-munity that had strongly opposed such a levy three years earlier.

In 2013, the school board at-tempted to add 10.64 cents to its tax levy to fi nance construction of a new high school needed to relieve overcrowding at Scott County High School. A petition drive chal-lenging the levy received strong support, prompting the board to rescind the higher tax.

Since that time, natural growth in property values boosted the school district’s available bonding capacity, and Hub made the case last fall in public forums and at civic group meetings that a 5.7-cent tax hike was necessary.

His success led to Thursday’s tri-

umphant groundbreaking.School district public relations

director Renee Holmes pulled out all the stops:

– Ninety second-graders from Western Elementary School marched to the school’s location to wit-ness the event, and two of them, Mason Tappel and Sophia Gorshak, wielded shovels as ground-breakers.

Mason and Sophia fl anked Hub and, at the critical mo-ment, sent their shovel-fuls soaring, sending dirt into their hair and onto Hub and Duncan.

“I still have dirt in my shoes,” Duncan said at the board meet-ing. “I’ll probably put them away and wear them when the school opens [in August 2019]. That would be appropriate.”

– Holmes arranged for Raptor Rehabilitation of Kentucky, a Lou-isville organization, to bring a red-tailed hawk to the event. Great Crossing High’s mascot is the

“warhawk.”– District personnel

handed out “fi rst-edition” T-shirts emblazoned

with GCHS’s logo. Ken-tucky Bank provided the shirts.

In addition to the Western second-graders, the ground-

breaking was attended by about 100 other people, including Scott County Judge-Executive George

Lusby, Georgetown Mayor Tom Prather, state Rep. Phillip Pratt, former superintendents Dallas Blankenship and Patricia Putty, and former board Chair

Haley Conway.Conway, who had advocated

construction of a second high school for most of his 12 years on the board — he did not seek re-election last year — was pleased by the event.

“It took a lot of hard work over a lot of time… I can’t wait for the fi rst football game,” Conway said.

Putty — whose tenure on the board found her and Conway often at loggerheads — also was pleased by the day’s event.

But she noted that if the higher tax increase she sought in 2013 had been in place, “We’d be open-ing the school this year.”

The buoyant mood of the morn-ing extended into the night’s meeting.

Prior to the meeting, the board conducted a public hearing on the tax rate.

Three Georgetown residents — Barbara Tilford, Bias Tilford and Jimmie Persley — asked the board to forego the increase. Per-sley emphasized the additional burden it will place on property owners living on fi xed incomes.

The board, though, had heard that argument in January, when it moved ahead with approving the tax hike.

Later, the board approved the bond issue, and Hub and Kidwell set themselves to the fi ve-minute task of signing for-mal documents.

“Gee, are you all buying a house,” Duncan quipped.

“We are. A 236,000-square-foot house,” Hub countered as he con-tinued jotting his name.

DAN ADKINS can be reached at dadkins@news-graphic.com.

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G E O R G E T O W N

S A T U R D A Y September 2, 2017 Vol. 67, No. 105 $1.00 single copyNEWS-GRAPHIC.COM

SPORTSCards defeat Highlands

PG. 8A

TODAY SUN MON

Local.News.Matters.

GREAT CROSSING HIGH SCHOOL GROUNDBREAKING

School board officially approves tax hike, 4-1

NEWS-GRAPHIC PHOTO BY: DAN ADKINS

School board Chair Kevin Kidwell, left, Western Elementary second-grader Mason Tappel, Superintendent Dr. Kevin Hub, Western second-grader Sophia Gorshak, and board members Susan Duncan and Jo Anna Fryman throw dirt at Thursday’s groundbreaking for the new Great Crossing High School.

By Ryan Alves

Georgetown News-Graphic

Like the rest of the counties in Kentucky and other state’s around the country, citizens of Scott County are lending a help-ing hand to those affected by Hurricane Harvey.

Several area entities, including the city of Stamping Ground are planning relief aids for locals to fi nd a way to pitch in.

The category-four Hurricane hit Houston, Texas shores last Friday, and has since dumped more than more than 50 inches of rain across the gulf of the Lone Star state.

More than 30,000 people have been displaced by what is now a tropical storm — but the dam-age, which is estimated at cost-ing more than $190 billion, has

been done.Here in Scott County, several

churches in the area are taking up donations, including George-town First United Methodist Church.

Associate Pastor Andrew Singh said the church will pass around a special offering plate during Sunday’s communion.

“We’ll send 100 percent of that money to the United Methodist Committee on Relief, which is on the ground right now helping on behalf of the church,” Singh said.

Over the next few weeks, Singh said the church would also be gathering other items depending on what is needed.

“The fi rst thing we’re doing is praying for all the people af-fected,” Singh said. “That’s the No. 1 thing.”

The Scott County Library is

hosting a blood drive Tuesday, Sept. 5 to offer aid.

“We had the blood drive al-ready scheduled, but the Ken-tucky Blood Center sent us an email saying that all the blood centers in Houston were shut down,” said Sharon Roggenkamp of the SCPL. “The Kentucky Blood Center has already shipped some blood down there, which has depleted the state’s supply.”

As the days go on, more blood

— especially type 0 — will be needed, Roggenkamp said.

“We need extra people to come and donate,” she added. “If you’re thinking about a way that you can help out, this is it. You know when you donate, you are reach-ing out and touching lives.”

Roggenkamp, who has experi-enced fl ooding herself, said see-ing the destruction from Harvey was hard to take in.

“It’s diffi cult when you see

what’s happening to folks,” she said. “Their lives had been turned upside down overnight.”

Tuesday’s blood drive is set for 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the library’s community room.

The city of Stamping Ground is also putting together a collection.

Mayor Kayla Jones said items can be dropped off at the Stamp-ing Ground Church of God, lo-cated at 121 Locust Fork Road, on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m.to 8 p.m.

Items needed for donations include:

• shaving cream• shampoo• body wash• deodorant• razors• baby wipes

Scott Countians lending a helping hand for hurricane relief‘It’s difficult when you see what’s happening to folks. Their lives had been turned upside down

overnight.’�

Sharon RoggenkampScott County Public Library

See RELIEF, 12A